Uncertainty in view of the World Cup winter
It should be clear at the latest after the next Council meeting in early May whether the FIS will reconsider its Garmisch decision. Then the Council will probably talk again about the controversial issue of central marketing. At the most recent Council meeting on April 8th, the FIS leadership tried to get approval for the short-term introduction of central marketing. But apparently some national associations did not go along with it, the discussions were intense according to sports show information.
After a change in the statutes in October, the world association apparently already sees itself as the owner of all World Cup rights. However, ongoing contracts stand in the way, especially between the national associations as previous rights holders, marketing agencies and TV broadcasters. What happens to these contracts? Who can still broadcast or advertise? Such questions are currently unresolved.
Coordination with FIS “unfortunately quite difficult”
“The fact that we still do not have reliable calendar planning in the respective disciplines in mid-April creates a considerable degree of uncertainty not only among all national ski associations, but also among the organizing committees and, above all, among the media partners and sponsors,” Schwarzbach says: “In addition, there are structural considerations and decisions that, from our point of view, are not comprehensible or at least not worth discussing. But the coordination and communication with those responsible at the FIS is unfortunately relatively difficult.”
Christian Scherer, General Secretary of the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV), is even clearer. “If we are suddenly no longer supposed to have any rights and are dependent on the goodwill of the FIS, we will not accept that”, the “Kleine Zeitung” quotes him as saying. Scherer also said in the “Tiroler Tageszeitung”: “The latest actions and the approach have caused great irritation. The national associations were not involved enough in the process, which is why resistance to the plans has formed.”
President Johan Eliasch smashes porcelain
Almost everyone involved said that central marketing under the umbrella of the FIS can make sense. But with his obvious solo effort, the FIS President Johan Eliasch, who has been in office since June 2021, is breaking a lot of china. “There must be talks, contracts must be respected,” said Scherer: “We can only optimize the system together.” Eliasch is a Swedish-British billionaire and owner of ski manufacturer Head. As FIS President, he promises above all growth and expansion, and central marketing is an important step for this.
How confrontational he proceeds becomes clear in a letter to the Council members, which is available to the sports show. In it, the FIS writes disparagingly of “so-called partners”, the status quo “monopolistic and monetary” wanted to keep incentives. But you don’t want to “Fill the pockets of third-party agencies who would have entirely self-interested motives.”
Stefan Krauss from Infront “very surprised” about the sound
The Swiss company Infront, which markets a large part of the World Cups, including on ARD and ZDF, should feel addressed. When “long-standing partner of the FIS and the national ski associations” “One is very surprised at the sound,” says Stefan Krauss, Vice President Winter Sports at Infront.
The former German ski racer had already told the WDR background magazine Sport in March inside tells it “despite intensive efforts” Infronts has not yet had any personal contact with Eliasch: “Furthermore, as I was told, Mr. Eliasch has instructed his managerial staff not to speak to us. In this respect, there is no meaningful discussion.”
Infront disagrees with FIS regarding FISMAG
Another area of conflict is FIS Marketing AG (FISMAG), a joint sponsoring agency of Infront, FIS and the company Tridem Sports. In its letter to Council members, FIS claims: “We have terminated all agreements with FISMAG.” Infront Vice Krauss contradicts this: “We are very surprised by this statement and take a completely different view.”
The dispute between the two parties is also sensitive because Infront has acquired the marketing rights to the Nordic and Alpine FIS World Championships in 2023 and 2025. A trusting cooperation hardly seems possible under Eliasch.
Will there be a split?
So it rumbles in many places in the ski world. The FIS once again did not want to comment on the sports show request. Eliasch had previously caused irritation with his role as head owner and with greenwashing plans. If the world association maintains its confrontational course under him, the courts will probably have to decide in the end on the marketing issue.